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Patronage Comedy and Censorship: Defense of Molière's "Tartuffe"
Full Text, translated in English "Lettre sur la comédie de l'Imposteur."
August 20, 1667, place of publication and author unknown. It is speculated that this petition was written by Molière himself or at least with his consent, as it defends the importance of ridicule as comedy in the original production of his play Tartuffe, which Louis XIV's royal censors had successfully shut down some three years earlier. -
Enlightened Satire: Scriblerus Club Formed
Full Text "Memoirs of the extraordinary life, works and discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus" by Martinus Scriblerus, a.k.a The Scriblerus Club, (Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot, Henry St. John, et al.)
London, 1725. Inspired by the onset of enlightened intellectualism, including Thomas Hobbes' social contract theory — an enlightened satire and critical social humour that mocks the intellectual movement itself. -
Pre-Revolutionary Europe: Moralistic and Satirical Print
Etching and Aquatint prints.
1797-1799, Spain. "As far back as his grandfather" by Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes, from his "Los Caprichos" — a series of more than 80 satirical prints critical of Spanish religious rule and aristocracy. -
Ambivalent Liberal Nationalism: Racism in Popular Satire
View Full "Unfer Verkehr (Our Local Types)" Antisemetic Caricature, Artist Unknown. 1825. Germany. Depicts a young Jewish man leaving home for the city. While his mother cries, his father tells him to bear whatever misfortunes befall him, as long as he becomes rich. -
Popular Nationalistic Identity: Satirical Cartography
"Angling in troubled waters:a serio-comic map of Europe" by Fred W. Rose, London : G.W. Bacon & Co. Ltd, 1899. A satirical map depicting a continent of specifically-identified nations "fishing" for geopolitical control as each simultaneously struggles with its own social unrest and discontent. -
Post-War Response: Gallows Humour
Still photograph from "Mysterien eines Frisiersalons (Mysteries of a Barbershop)", a 1923 German film by Bertolt Brecht, starring Galgenhumor master Karl Valentin, of Kabarett fame. In this scene, Valentin has accidentally decapitated a barbershop customer in an effort to get a close shave — a dark exaggeration for the desired comedic effect of the time.
